Chapter 19 has the long detailed account of Jesus being scourged and crucified. The text which details his death does not to communicate as much about his agony through this process as we might think. There are secular descriptions of crucifixion that explain in great detail the very real torture that people endured through such a death. John instead puts the fous on how it fulfilled the prophecies and, of course, God’s will.

When death finally comes, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus take command of his body for burial. It is fitting that two members of the Jewish rulers that had been so against him were His disciples. Notice in verse 39 that the amount of myrrh  and aloes that Nicodemus brought amounted to about 75 pounds!

After the resurrection in chapter 20, Jesus – as He had told the disciples in Matthew 26:32 that He would meet them there – would be with them at the Sea of Galilee, and at a mountain that He directs them to.  But several other events occur before and after this, the details of which are interspersed throughout the gospels in Matthew 28 and Luke 24.  And events in a single chapter are in some cases separated by days, and even weeks, as Jesus remained for forty days before the ascension.)

In the evening of the day of the resurrection, verse 19 tells us, the disciples had the doors locked where they were “for fear of the Jews.”  But Jesus comes and stands among them.  This is not to imply that the risen Lord was now some disembodied spirit.  But a locked door was certainly no challenge to the Lord, who had raised the dead.  He showed them His hands and His side’ and in verses 21-23, John gives his account of a foretaste of the Holy Spirit to come to them when He leaves.   Verse 23 confirms what He told them in Matthew 18:18.

The “doubting Thomas” verses are next as Thomas was not with the others on the above occasion.  When the others told Thomas they had seen the Lord, he said “Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.”  Eight days later, Jesus again enters where they are locked in and He has Thomas do exactly those things.  When Thomas acknowledges Him as the Lord, Jesus says “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

Though there still remains one chapter in the gospel of John, he ends this chapter by stating that Jesus did many wondrous things that were not written in his gospel.  But he says it was written “that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

/Bob’s boy

Bible Reading Schedule for this month
Click links below to read or listen to audio of one of this week’s chapters in Colossians and Luke

John 16, John 17, John 18, John 19, John 20

___________________

some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers

Please visit this site’s menu item “The Author’s Books” for info on the author’s books, website, and Facebook page.

All of my comments in this blog are solely my responsibility. When reading any commentary, you should always refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word.